Car-starter



(NoModeL) 3 Sheets-Sheet l.

L-. W. HEWETT 8v S. J. LEONARD.

OAR STARTER.

No '..275,211. Patented Apr. 3, 1883.

H I W MIN M" ATTEST: INVENTDRSIV M WML.

N4 PETER5. Pmwmogn lm, Wzuhillgion, D. C.

' 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. L. W. 'HEWETT & S. J. LEONARD.

GAR STARTER.

Patented Apr. 3,1883.

(No Model.)

ATTEST= F INVENTU s-- fiwzw UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEwIs w. HEWETT, OF E YORK, N. Y., AND sUMNER J. LEONARD, 0

WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIeNoRs T0 PHILIP B. SHAW, 0F

WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-STARTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 275,211, dated April 3, 1883.

- Application filed May 2, 1882. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LEWIS W. HEWETT, of the city, county, and State of New York, and SUMNER J. LEONARD, of Williamsport, in the county of Lycoming and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful erable wear without losing its efficiency or its certainty of action; which will have a much larger bearing-surface in the individual gripping devices than heretofore, and will be provided with a plurality of such devices, so as to distribute the strain and prevent all liability to slip; which will be provided with a mechanism for throwing the gripping devices out of action, not materially affected by the settling of the car upon its springs, andwith means for compelling the driver to throw the gripping devices out of action at one end of a car before he can shift his horses to the other end of the car; and which will be constructed for the ready removal and replacing of the gripping devices without taking the oscillating collar apart or removing it from the sleeve that is secured. to the axle.

Our invention consists in the novel devices and combinations of parts employed by us to accomplish the foregoing object, as fully hereinafter explained, and pointed out by the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part her'eoflFigure l is an elevation and partial section of one end of a car carrying our starter and attachments; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the starter removed from the axle; Fig. 3, a rear elevationof the same; Fig. 4, a vertical section of the starter; Fig. 5, a separate elevation of the sleeve; and Fig. 6, a view from v the front side of the collar, with the plate which retains the gripping-rollers in position removed.

Like letters denote corresponding parts in all six figures.

Ais the sleeve, which is made in two parts, as heretofore, and is secured to the axle of the car. It has an enlarged central portion, with which the gripping devices engage. Upon this sleeve is placed loosely the collar B, also made in two parts, and inclosing the central enlarged portion of the sleeve, which turns within the collar when the car is in motion. Heretofore the central portion of the sleeve has been provided with a single groove in which worked a gripping-ball carried by a cam-lever pivoted in a slot in the collar, and another ball playing in a tapering groove in the collar, and serving to prevent any retrograde movement of the car; but these devices lost their efficiency after a little wear, and the bearing-surface of each ball being only about one-eighth of an inch, the strain was all at one point and increased largely the danger of breaking the collar. Instead of-a concentric groove, we employ in our starter two or more cam grooves, G D E F.

'Each of these grooves preferably approximates in shape a part of a true spiral, its radius decreasing regularly for every degree of revolution. The shoulders c d of, where the points of greatest and least radius meet, are given a rounded orcurved form. The cam-grooves, which are shown as four in number, are located with their points at the quarters of a circle, so that three of them will always be in position for effective operation. Rollers G H I K bear on the cam-faces of these grooves and play in a chamber, L, formed in one part of the collar B. The bearing-surface g of this chamber is eccentric with the axle, and the cam -grooves divide this chamber into a number of tapering parts, each part being smaller at the lower end of such chamber thanat its upper end. The chamber L has a number of extended open= o ings, h, closed by a removable plate, i. Through these openings the rollers are put into or removed from the chamber L, and into these openings the rollers are pushed in succession by the points of the cams. When the point of any one cam passes the inner end of the opening it in line with it the roller moves into the space made by the regularly-receding face of surfaces of the -'grooves. pivoted to the collarfan'd may carry a roller the cam and travels toward the lower end of the eham ber- L,"turning in the opposite direction to the sleeve until the point of the cam lifts the roller out of the chamber L and pushes it into one of the openings h.

In the operation of starting the car the collar B isturned, as-will be well-understood, upon the sleeve, and the rollers arejammed between the surface g of chamber L and the camgrooves, locking the collar to the sleeve. The further movement of the collar turns the sleeve and the car-axle to which it is attached. The chamber L being less than a quarter of a circle in extent, three of the rollers are always in position to act, and at times all four are in position to grip the sleeve. The cam-surfaces and rollers wear evenly, and by such wear the point of efi'ective gripping on the cam is somewhat changed; but the efficiency of the starter is not materially decreased. When the extent of effective gripping-surface is reduced materially by wear, new and larger rollers can be readily 1nserted,and the starter will be as eflicient as when first put in operation. The rollers prevent any retrograde movement of the'car by a'g'ripping-action, which is'caused by the reverse movement of the sleeve within the collar,

instead of by the forward movement of the colla'r'on the sleeve, as is the case in starting.

The rollers which are used have many advantages over the balls heretofore employed. They be'ar'the whole width ofth'eir faces, while the balls bear at one point only. Conseqnentlythe rollers are'much more'certain in their action. The rollers'can alsobe made absolutely true atsmall expense, and'will wear evenly, while the balls'ca'unotbe constructed of truespher'ieal shapefandfln addition, wear unevenly. The use of anuniber of gripping devices, it will be seen, distributes the strain an'd'lessens' the liability of-the breaking Many cured'to the bottomof the car, and attached to a rod running to the spring-retracted draw- 'ba'r N. The lever M can be'made solidwith the colla'rfforthe reason that'the two operations of thesta'rter areperformedf by'the roll- "ersthat lie "bet-ween'the colla'r'aud the cam- This lever may be bearing on the central'concentri'c su'rface,7r, and itmay-be limited in its movement, or adjustably fixed by means of set-screws. The oflice of 'the roller carried'by-it, however, will only be to take most of the strain off "of the gripping-rollers whenth'e car is in motion.

To throw the rollers out of action, rods 0 are used, (one for each 'rolle'r,) which pass th'rou'gh'the bottom of the'chamber'L. These rods are connected by aba'r,l,'by'raisin'g'which the rollers will be forced into'the openings h,

and the sleevewill be free to turn backward *inthe collar. It is only necessary to raise the nected by a slotted rod, q, with an arm, 7, se-

cured to a rock-shaft turning in a bracket from the casing in which the draw-bar slides. The other arm, 8, of this last rock-shaft is connected With a step or other suitable device, t. This step plays through a'slot, u, in the drawbar N, and has a beveled shoulder, 22, which, when the step is forced downwardly to throw the starter out of action, pushes the draw-bar forward and locks it in that position.

A bracket, Q, is secured to the dash-board of the car and projects over the point of the hook w of the draw-bar when such draw-bar is retracted. This bracket Q prevents the driver from decaching his horses until the draw-bar is forced forward by the depression of the step t, which throws the starter out of action; hence in shifting thehorses from one end of the car to the other the driver is obliged to set the starters'prop'erly. As soon as the horses commence 'to pull uponthe draw-bar the'starter at that end of the car is put in action.

What we claimis 1. In car sta'rters, the combinatiomwith a.

sleeve secured to the car-axle, of a collar movable upon the sleeve, and two or more gripping devices working on ditferent portions of the sleeve laterally, substantially as set'forth.

2. In car-'starters,'the sleeve securedto the car-axle, andhaving two or more spiral catngrooves upon which the gripping'devicesact, substantially as set'forth.

3. In car-starters, the combination with the sleeve-secured to the car-axle, and'having'two 'or more spiral cam-grooves, of the collar-movable upon the sleeve, and gripping devices, substantially asset forth.

4. Inca'r-starters, the combination, with the sleeve secured to the car-axle, and having two or more spiral cam-grooves, of the collar and the rollers, substantially as set forth.

5. In car-starters, the combination,'with the sleeve secured to the car-axle, and having two or morespiral cam-grooves located sideby'side and arranged with their pointsin succession, of a collar movable upon such sleeve, and havin g a chamber carrying gripping devices working in such spiral cam-grooves, substantially asset forth.

6. In car starters,'the combinatiomwith the sleeve secured to the car-axle and having two or more spiral cam-grooves located side by side and arranged with their points in succession, of a collar movable upon such sleeve, andhavinga chamber carrying rollers or equivalent gripping devices, and the extended chambers into which said rollers are pushed by the points of the cams in passing, substantially as set forth.

7. In car-starters, the movable gripping-collar provided with a rigid lever for moving the same, substantially as set forth.

8. In car-starters, the combination, with the sleeve secured to the car-axle, of the collar, the intermediate gripping device, and the rigid le- 'ver, substantially as set forth.

9. In car-starters, the combination, with the movable gripping devices, of means for throwin g them out of action without turning the collar, substantially as set forth.

10. In car-starters, the combination, with the sleeve, the collar, and the gripping devices, acting both to start the car and to prevent retrograde movement, of the lifting-rods throwing such gripping devices out of action without turning the collar, substantially as set forth.

LEWIS W. HEWETT. SUMNER J. LEONARD.

Witnesses:

J. CLINTON HILL, CHAS. L. GIRARD. 

